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[wacko]

Was wondering if May I drink things with caffeine if are Bipolar I am Bipolar type 1 and I been in the lasts months abusing of coffee and coke and been getting certain changes mostly I feel like weird, more irritable, and I wish to heard some opinions about the topic of persons that be Bipolar for see if can change my perspective

Best regards
Francisco

[SmilingElephant]

OMG yes!!! I have been on Starbucks like a fish to water!!! Lol!!

But... i have been SUPER irritable lately, I am still unmedicated....haven't had a chance to get to the doc yet. I'm surprised i haven't been fired or fought yet! I just hate ppl right now....but i love to work and make money. After a cup i'm super jittery. I can't shgut up, i dance all over the place, im just.....crazy.

So i'm trying to ease off of it now. Its addictive!

[chloe12345]

If you are that irritable you might want to cut back on your coffee. I usually just have 2 cups a day. I am also Bipolar I and I find coffee makes me very jittery if I overdo it. Irritablility is a symptom of Bipolar and I don't want to make it worse.

Good luck!

[Gangling]

Imo, caffeine can most definately aggrevate a lot of BP symptoms like insomnia, mania and even cognative areas such as bad choices (spending spree's). I don't know of any conclusive proof of this so this is mearly my humble opinion...nothing more.

Another interesting one that would be nice to know, is nicotine...?

[Sheepwoman]

I'm also BP I. I'm quite different to you all. I drink 2 pots of coffee in the winter and sometimes in the summer. It doesn;t make me jittery or affect my moods. I've been drinking coffee since my late teens I probably have become accustomed to most of caffiene's effect on the nervous system (in some people the GI tract can also be affected.)
I would say for most of you, a cup or two in the morning should not have a great affect on your mood unless you are caffiene sensitive If you are the latter, it's best to avoid caffiene altogether and use herbal teas or juices if you must drink anything. Also, avoid drink containing caffiene )Colas, energy drinks, Mountain DEW to name a few .)
Sheepwoman

[Nibbler]

I cant handle much caffeine at all, it makes me very jittery and anxious so I stear clear of it. If I have more than one soft drink its the same. I get more sick from drinking 6 cans of coke than I do if I drink a carton of alcohol.

[lovelyowl]

If you're on lithium caffeine can affect your levels. Like everything on lithium, it's apparently best to keep the use stable. I drink 3 coffees a day and that works for me.

[electrochemistry]

Coffee, cola, chocolate and cocoa all increase my levels of aggression, irritability, anxiety, very noticably. Even one cup of coffee a week is a little risky for me. I used to self medicate with coffee in my 20's to lift my mood, until i must of built up a kind of 'tipping point' where it would lift my mood for a short period before dumping me into an extended irritable mood.

I'm still currently looking at alternatives to lift my mood without putting me into an extended irritable mood. Small amounts of Nicotine gum and aspartame seem to help with this thus far.

[WorkingTowardsaBetterLife]

I find caffeine is a mixed bag. Yes I have BP1, paranoia, and GAD, but I am also a binge eater. So if you take away my caffeine then I am calm but my appetite goes up right away. The reality is I take my Lithium, and a lot of sedatives to go to sleep, and drink a lot of caffeine to counteract the drugged feeling of Lithium and keep my binge eating at bay.

[MeohS7]

I never drank coffee in my life because of what a lot of you describe but after 10 years of depression stimulants are the only thing helping me out of the depression. I have bipolar II and have been taking Depakote for 15 years.

Edited by MeohS7, 03 August 2012 - 04:33 PM.

[Adipose]

I used to drink at least 8 cups a day. Now I try to limit myself to 3 and none after 3pm. I'm trying to replace it with herbal teas... it's just not the same though. I don't drink soda/soft drinks.

[wacko]

am sorry by this  answer so late just i could not watch the forum and never got notifications about the reply to my qustion thanks for the feedback given to me.

 

best regards

Francisco

[Viceman]

I drink 1-3 cups a day depending on how tired I am from the Xanax and Seroquel. It helps balance out how tired I get from the medications without really affecting my mood.

In the afternoons/ evenings, if I get drowsy I drink a soda.

[wacko]

just have noticed that  some mood uplifting thing but in general avoid to take caffeine things  well sometimes are unavoidable but  , mostly flavored drinks without alcohol are without caffeine

[anger danger]

I'm bipolar and noticed I would turn into a raging mess when I drank lots of caffiene. I used to do the buy 2 for 1 rockstars every morning that I drank before lunch, then I'd suck down 3-4 mt dews during the rest of the work day... then I'd come home and drink a case of alcohol to cope with the days events. I cut out alcohol first and was better. Then I cut out caffeine and things improved even more drastically for me. I do take 300mg of Lamictal for a mood stabilizer too. Doc isn't sure if I should take AD's yet or not. Caffiene never seemed to affect my depressive side, it did however seem to add fuel to the fire in regards to my irritability and manic moods. I'm still a raging Ahole from time to time... but now most times I just vent on people who actually deserve it. May 20th will be one year without either :)

[Velthir]

Caffeine doesn't seem to make a difference either way for me, doesn't actually seem to have a lot of affect on me at all.

[megadecabyte]

I stopped drinking Diet Coke and I really felt lethargic without it.  It's been 3 months and I miss it.  But I've been told soda drinks arent that good for you so I'm staying off it.  I do drink a lot of Ice Tea which seems to give me more energy to counteract the sedation I feel from my medications.  I take a lot of sleep meds so it doesn't interfere with me getting to sleep but I am unable to stay asleep for more than a few hours.  But I attribute this to switching from zyprexa to abilify.  So for me I think caffeine helps me during the day without any jitters or side effects.

[Prudence Jane]

I'm type 1 and regulary drink coffee. Had no problem with that.